COMPASSION CLUB STILL HELPS PEOPLE

Police seized several pounds of marijuana and arrested two people last
week at the North Island Compassion Club.

It was the second bust this year at the Sixth Street establishment in
Courtenay, the first happening in February when four people were arrested.

Club manager Ernie Yacub, who is also a director of the non-profit
society, was arrested last Wednesday but released with a promise to
appear.

"People are scared," Yacub said. "They're scared anyway. They're
afraid to talk to their family, they're afraid to talk to their
doctors, they're afraid to come here to get their medicine. And now
that we've been busted again, they're afraid that they're not going to
be able to get their medicine anymore."

The club's clientele includes retirees, people on disability and those
who work. Aside from different strains of marijuana, the club sells
cookies and cannabis-infused oil that allows people to ingest the
medicine rather than smoke it.

"We're providing what we consider is an essential service that the
medical community will not provide," Yacub said. "The medical health
community across the country is failing its sick people. Particularly
people with cancer."

Yacub said the only legal way people can obtain cannabis is with a
licence from the medical marijuana program, which he said government
was forced to develop about 10 years ago because the courts recognized
people's rights to use cannabis marijuana for medicinal purposes.

"People can get a licence to possess, a licence to grow and a licence
to designate somebody to grow for them," he said. "There are people in
the Valley who have their licences who buy from us. Those aren't the
only people that we provide services to. It's very difficult for
people to get licensed. My family physician of 30 years would not sign
for my papers, even though I have a Category 1 disability."

Category 1 includes hepatitis C and cancer.

Yacub notes a recent Ontario court decision where a judge said the
government program is not working and needs to be changed for people
to obtain licences.

"The judge used the word boycott, that doctors are boycotting the
program," Yacub said.

Which is one of the reasons the compassion club started 10 years ago.
It has operated seven years at the Sixth Avenue location. It is not
licensed, which amounts to a kind of "grey zone" or political
situation where "police know we're doing a good thing but bust us
because it's something they're told to do.

"The Harper government has consistently said marijuana is a serious
offence, so they're cracking down," said Yacub, noting a compassion
club in Langley was also busted last week.

"Basically, people either come to us to get their medicine, or they go
to the crack dealer down the road. That's a scary proposition, it's
expensive, they don't know what they're getting...Would they rather
people come here and get medicine from us, or get it from a heroin
dealer? This is where the government is pushing people."

Before the federal election, Yacub notes the Tories announced a plan
to invest $10 billion into new prisons, even though crime rates in
Canada are dropping. He also notes a 14-per-cent increase in pot busts
in Canada last year.

Before the first bust at the club, he said RCMP had told Courtenay
council that crime rates in the Valley are dropping
consistently.

Until recently, Jacub said the club has operated for upwards of seven
years "without incident" in terms of police visits or complaints from
neighbours.

Though the dispensary is not open, the club is still providing
services to clients.